Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles kicks off Wednesday

By Susan King

July 5, 2013 12 AM PT

The Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles, which kicks off Wednesday, will showcase more than 100 independent features, documentaries and shorts at various locales, including the Downtown Independent, the AT&T; Center Theater, the Grammy Museum Clive Davis Theater and other venues.

The festival, which continues through July 18, opens with the U.S. premiere of Ron Chapman’s “Who the *** is Arthur Fogel?,” a documentary biopic about the creative force behind the worldwide concert tours of Madonna, U2 and Lady Gaga.

FOR THE RECORD:
Downtown Film Festival: An article in the July 8 Calendar section about Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles said the event opens with Wayne Thompson’s “Who the ... Is Arthur Fogel?,” suggesting that Thompson directed the documentary. Thompson is the executive producer; the film was directed by Ron Chapman. —

“Our festival has always underscored the close affinity between film and music, especially here in Los Angeles where both industries are centered and where creatives from each industry can’t help but rub shoulders with each other,” said festival co-director Peggy Ellithorpe in a statement.

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Other music-themed movies in the festival include “Punk in Africa” and “Furious Beauty.”

The festival also is featuring a women’s series, which includes the L.A premiere of the Sharon Stone-executive produced documentary “Femme” and a showcase spotlighting Latino-American filmmakers such as Kenneth Castillo, who will screen his drama “Counterpunch.”

The festival and the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art have also collaborated on a digital art competition and winners will be exhibited during the Downtown L.A. Art Walk this month.

And on July 12, Geoffrey Fletcher, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 2009’s “Precious,” will host a free public screening of the winning short films of the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series.

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